Srinagar: Terrorists shot dead five non-Kashmiri labourers and injured another in Kulgam district of Kashmir, on a day a delegation of Members of European Parliament (MEPs) is visiting the valley to understand the situation there.
The labourers, all of whom are believed to be from West Bengal, were killed at around 8.15 pmin Katarsu area, police and army officials said.
While five labourers died on the spot, one was shifted to hospital in critical condition, the officials said.
The area has been cordoned off and searches are on to track down the killers, they said.
This is the fifth incident of targeting of outsiders in Kashmir in the last one month.
Only yesterday, a truck driver from Jammu region was killed by terrorists in Anantnag while he was loading apples on his vehicle to be transported out of Kashmir valley.
Earlier on October 25, terrorists intercepted three trucks with registration number of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana in Chitragham area of Shopian and shot at the drivers. Two of them were killed.
They were there to ferry apples out of Kashmir, officials said.
One of the deceased was identified as Mohd Illiyas from Alwar in Rajasthan, while Jeevan, hailing from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, was injured.
On 14 October, terrorists killed a truck driver from Rajasthan, identified as Sharif Khan, in the same district of Shopian. The terrorists also burnt down the vehicle and beat up the orchard owner.
On October 16, a fruit loader from Punjab was also shot dead.
Such incidents of targeting outsiders have been witnessed particularly since the special status of the state granted under Article 370 was abolished in the first week of August.
The government’s idea behind removing the applicability of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir is to ensure that people from outside the state can buy property there and conduct business without any hindrance.
